Sorry it has taken me so long to get The Runaway Knitter Blog up, but I have been totally overthinking this! I’ve been trying to figure out the right way to start it, what to talk about, trying to get it just so. I have written 2 other blurbs for this. I sent one of them to my web designer, Amy, but didn’t let her pull the trigger on it. It just didn’t feel right yet, but this morning I am ready.
Leaving everything behind and loading your life up into a truck and camper can be quite liberating. Looking back on it, I felt overwhelmed. I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough yarn packed for the entire journey, so ridiculous. I actually am embarrassed by how much yarn I packed. I was overthinking what I might need if I had an inspirational thought on a new pattern, and oh my god, what if I didn’t have the right color or weight packed? UGH! I had an idea that I could knit up some of my patterns and drop them off at local knit shops for hopeful displays, maybe show them some of my favorites. I will work on knitting up these samples over the next 5 months while I am in Palm Springs. My Brain is on fire with all the fun things I can do! I would love to knit up cowls and drop them off with random people, inform them that they have been “Cowled” by The Runaway Knitter, and hopefully get them to post a selfie to Instagram! (This is me justifying how much freakin’ yarn I brought along).
I think I really needed this journey to show me how simple life can be. I take so much for granted, and sometimes I just have too much STUFF. Yes, I realized a lot about the things I was taking for granted when covid hit, but camping makes you really understand needing just the basics to get by. The first couple of nights we had issues with the battery dying in the camper. I woke up on our first morning on the road and lost power shortly after. I developed a new anxiety syndrome that I call FONC (Fear of No Coffee). It was awful, but alas, my husband (and savior) turned on the truck, charged the batteries up, and saved the day! Wayne, he is amazing! He’s very meticulous, and thinks out every detail, so he can fix just about everything I break... or bend... or twist. As the days go on, I’m sure you will hear more about my clumsy endeavors. Yesterday, I forgot to latch the sliding bathroom door, which caused it to derail while traveling and busted the door stop. I didn’t want to tell Wayne, but I think he would have noticed it before too long. :’( I confessed and cried. I was so frustrated with myself for letting it happen. Again, Wayne came to the rescue! He put the door back on its rails. He took two nails from the old doorstop and drilled them up above in the rail to make a new one! Kudos to my “Joseph, the Carpenter” (as my mother refers to Wayne) ❤️.
Anyhow, back to the simple journey, the changes, and the learning that has come with it. There’s waiting for hot water, which means waiting to shower, and then making sure that I don’t use too much water and fill up our holding tank too fast! Which also means finding a new way to wash my hands with minimal water. Fresh drinking water is something I’ve never thought so much about either! Being from a small town in Wisconsin, all I ever had to do was turn on the faucet and drink. I’m so thankful that my husband knows what he’s doing and bought a Berkey Water Filter System. We pour the water in and it reduces the chances of bacteria and viruses by 99.9% which is super cool! I hate buying plastic water bottles, so we just fill up our water jugs everyday! We were even using it at home before we left! Then there’s electricity, plugging in a hair dryer, microwaving stuff, or using a toaster. These are all things that I was just doing for the first couple of days, not realizing that the camper just wasn’t made for these items on battery power!
As I’m writing this I just looked up from typing to catch the moon setting. It’s so beautiful out here on the road.
One thing that is truly a surprise is how well our wifi and phone system have held up. We switched Wayne’s phone and my iPad to Verizon before we left. Hallelujah, what a great discovery of coverage from a network! We also purchased a business wifi booster that plugs in, in the camper whenever we are set up to camp. I cannot believe the service I have out here with Verizon! I am online driving down the road with NO WiFi, googling things, typing my blog, texting, AND sending pictures. We are in the middle of nowhere Nebraska with full service!
Currently, I am knitting a huge infinity scarf/wrap/swoncho using the Emily Jean pattern for a base. I am also knitting a triangle version of the Runaway Shawl and love it! I’m coming up with lots of samples for the triangle using Knit Circus Opulence, and The Greatest of Ease, Madeline Tosh Sock, Schoppel Wolle Edition 3, Madeline Tosh TML Mo with Spincycle, Dyed in the Wool. I’m going to call it the Runaway Camper. It should be ready to publish by mid-November.
I’m excited to announce that in 2022 The Runaway Circus Shawl will be released exclusively using Knit Circus Divine DK and a 50 gram gradient cake! I loved collaborating with Bug and Liz of Knit Circus on this and am super excited they even liked it!
So here it is! My first blog! Bear with me, I will get better at this as I go along. I’m going to post some pictures so you can envision this journey alongside us.
Eternally Grateful, Dana Fehrenbach aka The Runaway Knitter